Musicman Stingray 5 / Status neck - 2006 Anniversary Model + OHSC (ABSOLUTELY NO TRADES, I AM WEAK) £1500 London

[biro]

Selling this bass for one reason only – property. The less said about that, the better. What matters is that this 2006 Ray is in excellent condition and has reached that rare stage where an instrument stops trying and simply is. No drama, no fuss – just very, very good.

 

I don’t usually get on with Rays. This one is an exception, which is irritating. It is easily the best I’ve played and the only one I've ever seriously considered keeping. If Ernie Ball built them like this consistently, my opinion of Rays would require revision. If it doesn’t sell, I’ll keep it and pretend this listing never existed.

This is a ceramic magnet Ray that behaves like it knows some vintage secrets. With sensible EQ (but even without) it does the classic Ray thing convincingly – full, authoritative, and effortlessly cool. Ideal territory if Donny Benét is anywhere in your musical orbit. Comes with the original OHSC, which is immaculate and frankly better looked after than most flats.

 

Can be tried in North London – tea and biscuits provided, subject to the ongoing goodwill of the kettle. I work in central London, so handover there is also easy. Shipping is fine: I’ve sent instruments to Australia without incident. Pitcairn remains a hard no.

 

Please don’t suggest trades. I have a documented history of poor decisions in that area and would like to keep this transaction emotionally tidy.

 

Photos included, plus a video from @lowregisterhead below – shared in the optimistic hope that he won’t mind.

 

 

 

 

 

[Terry M.]

Please forgive my ignorance but I know nothing about Status necks. Do you happen to know the fretboard radius measurement on them? What's the story with sticking them on Stingrays,I've seen it before and genuinely curious 🙂

[biro]

Hello! To be perfectly honest, I am not quite sure about the radius – it seems no different from other stingray 5s I had, and not as flat as my 14" or 16" Ibanez basses. I'd assume it should be 11"-12".

 

As to why people used to stick them on Stingrays, I am not sure why they did. That said, very much as far as my experience goes, have never played a Stingray I was 100% happy with neck-wise (I am amazed they still do not have a dual action truss rod), in terms of stability, fretwork, and truss rod robustness. (I had three at different times, years ranging between 2005 and 2013.) I am sure there are lots of lovely ones out there, and maybe I could have lived with those necks. But this neck solves the issues I had and quite frankly seems to me to be in a different class.

[knicknack]

This is one of my favourite for sale posts ever, and is leading me towards emotionally unstable decisions….

[Terry M.]

13 minutes ago, biro said:

Hello! To be perfectly honest, I am not quite sure about the radius – it seems no different from other stingray 5s I had, and not as flat as my 14" or 16" Ibanez basses. I'd assume it should be 11"-12".

 

As to why people used to stick them on Stingrays, I am not sure why they did. That said, very much as far as my experience goes, have never played a Stingray I was 100% happy with neck-wise (I am amazed they still do not have a dual action truss rod), in terms of stability, fretwork, and truss rod robustness. (I had three at different times, years ranging between 2005 and 2013.) I am sure there are lots of lovely ones out there, and maybe I could have lived with those necks. But this neck solves the issues I had and quite frankly seems to me to be in a different class.

Thanks for the response. I'll go online and see if I can dig anything out. My fretting hand is fussy with regards to radii,prefers flat or close to it.

[ash]

I’ve got to ask - it’s a beauty but what does it weigh? 

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, biro said:

Please don’t suggest trades. I have a documented history of poor decisions in that area and would like to keep this transaction emotionally tidy.

This made laugh. I wonder if some other BCer with a trade is laughing too, as in, “Mwah, ha, ha, ha!”

 

28 minutes ago, ash said:

I’ve got to ask - it’s a beauty but what does it weigh? 

Please be heavy, please be heavy 🙏.

[biro]

Measured using the highly calibrated bathroom-scale method – weighed myself, then myself plus bass. The bass is 4.8-4.9 kg. Regrettably, even after removing the bass, the scale was unmoved in its broader judgement, so yes, a diet remains necessary.

 

On the other hand, the bass is very well balanced – unlike, I gather, my diet.

[ezbass]

42 minutes ago, biro said:

Regrettably, even after removing the bass, the scale was unmoved in its broader judgement

 

42 minutes ago, biro said:

4.8-4.9 kg

Phew, I'm saved!

[Beedster]

Classy bass 👍

[Beedster]

2 hours ago, Terry M. said:

What's the story with sticking them on Stingrays,I've seen it before and genuinely curious 🙂

Like any other mod, people seek improvement. IME and unlike Badass bridges and ‘better’ PUPs, there are very few basses that aren’t improved significantly by a Status neck 👍

[roger]

5 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Like any other mod, people seek improvement. IME and unlike Badass bridges and ‘better’ PUPs, there are very few basses that aren’t improved significantly by a Status neck 👍

Improved or different? Genuine question 

[Beedster]

Just now, roger said:

Improved or different? Genuine question 

 

In the case of a Status neck, improved. Note to note and string to string balance are pretty much perfect, stability and therefore playability significantly improved over all but the absolute best necks (luthier/top-end Warmoth, FCS), and there's a lovely layer of harmonic content that IME you only get from graphite, and good graphite at that (there is bad graphite, rhymes with roses....)

[roger]

I’ve had a few status necks and I kinda prefer that maple Flea, Bernard Edward’s, Gail A D, Nick beggs, that guy from Sade etc etc kinda sound but personal choice I guess but to coin a BC phrase…….’this won’t hang around for long’ cus ‘Rob ain’t making any more’! but seriously GLWTS super looking bass

[Beedster]

2 minutes ago, roger said:

I’ve had a few status necks and I kinda prefer that maple Flea, Bernard Edward’s, Gail A D, Nick beggs, that guy from Sade etc etc kinda sound but personal choice I guess but to coin a BC phrase…….’this won’t hang around for long’ cus ‘Rob ain’t making any more’! but seriously GLWTS super looking bass

 

Get it, I've owned a few Status and Modulus necks/basses, and for my own reasons I still prefer wooden necks, but for me it's more about feel than performance, graphite is quantitatively better IME 

 

And yes this is a rather special instrument 👍

[biro]

Personally, I don’t mind wooden necks at all – the basses I play the most are wengé or maple. All that said, in the rich tapestry that is the world of bass necks, there are great ones, bad ones, and everything in between. I never played the original neck on this bass, so I can’t comment directly – though the absence of said neck is, at the very least, mildly suspicious. What I can say is that this neck (irrespective of the material) is a clear improvement on the Stingray necks I have tried, none of which I found more than "okay" for various reasons: tone is a bit of an elusive consideration, but three out of three Stingrays I owned had necks that did not stay put the way I wanted them to; in none of them the relief was ever as even as I wanted on both sides; and the fretwork was passable, but pretty far from exceptional.

 

Ah, I should add that this also had a fret level at The Gallery, so the action can (and currently is) stupid low.